Chicago Whorl

The Chicago Spire (in French “Whorl of Chicago”) is currently a residential Gratte-ciel in form of Spirale in construction with Chicago, Illinois. The end of work is planned for 2010. With its 150 stages and its 609 meters height, it should become the most skyscraper of the American continent, in front of the Freedom Tower of New York. It was drawn by Spanish Santiago Calatrava, originator inter alia Turning Torso of Malmö.

It was initially called Fordham Spire and 400 North Lake Shore Drive . The site, the estuary of the Chicago To rivet in the North-East of the Loop, was chosen by Garrett Kelleher of the Shelbourne Development Group, Inc..

History

Fordham Whorl

At the origin, the project, named " Fordham Spire" is presented in July 2005, it comprises 115 stages. It is the contractor of Chicago, Christopher T. Carley of Fordham Company which leads the project then. The building east conceived to shelter a hotel and apartments as well as large a antenna. The March 16th 2006, the plans are approved unanimously by the Chicago Plan Commission (" commission of town planning of Chicago") then the March 23rd 2006 it is with the tower of the city' S Zoning Committee (" commission of the plan of the zones") who also approves them. The March 29th 2006 it is the council of the town of Chicago which approves the plans. The council also votes an amendment concerning the size of the buildings which authorizes the construction of a 610 height m tower.

The plans are largely supported by the immediate neighbors and the town of Chicago as a whole partly because the building will eat less light of day and will stop less the prospect on the urban Panorama than envisaged it in the beginning the plans for this zone. The mayor of Chicago Richard Mr. Daley even says that it approved the plans because of their least environmental impact. The opposition of some neighbors is due to the fact of the increased risks of congestion. Donald Trump was opposed immediately to the building mentioning that the structure would become a target for the terrorists and that the project is not credible. It should be noted that its project in progress, the International Trump Hotel and Tower, is currently in construction with some blocks of houses in the west of the site of Chicago Spire and will be in competition with it.

Localization

The building site is with the mouth of the Rivière Chicago, on bank of the Lake Michigan, with the northern edge of the Loop, the large district of businesses of the city. The site is bordered in north by the Ogden channel, the east by the boulevard Lake Shore Drive , the Chicago river in the south and the buildings residential existing in the west.

Structure

As for many its projects, Calatrava took as a starting point the nature to draw this skyscraper. It compared the building with an Indian campfire and a snail shell. The spiral has functional qualities: it reinforces the structure and makes it possible to reduce the catch of the wind. On a parallelepipedic building , the wind exerts a pressure on the surface which is exposed for him and the laminar flow a force of suction on opposite surface. What causes a movement of oscillation on the buildings of big size which can be partly cancelled by a reinforcement of the structure or by using a dynamic shock absorber.

Height

The tower owes measurement 2000 feet, that is to say 610 meters of the ground to the top of the roof, which will make of it the most building of the United States in front of the Sears Tower (527m), it also in Chicago, and the Freedom Tower (541m), in construction in Manhattan.

Interior installation

The tower must shelter 1200 apartments, and, as for the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center, a panoramic room on the last floor, making it possible to admire a sight extending on the town of Chicago, the Lake Michigan and the four States of the Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Stages of construction

The cranes and the equipment of construction arrived on the site on June 25th, 2007. The next day, Shelbourne Development officially announced the signature of the first contract of construction. This first stage includes/understands the construction of 34 steel and concrete boxes which will be inserted with 37 m of depth to rest on the bed rock.

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